authors and sponsors called themselves constitutionalists, and yet went to work, by means of violence and bloodshed, to break the constitution they made their battle-cry. Allowing that the reëlection of Juarez had been unjustifiable and illegal, and that his title should have been set aside with all the energy of the nation, why was Lerdo de Tejada, president of the supreme court, and the official designated by the constitution of 1857 as the legal temporary successor, also set aside?[1] It is surmised that the revolutionists mistrusted him; but if so, they failed to express it in their plan.[2] The result of it all was that the plan met with but few supporters, the liberal party, as a whole, looking upon it as hostile to the constitution of 1857, as an impending military dictatorship prompted by the spirit of militarism, as Juarez called it, and as exclusive. Had the revolutionary movement been well directed, however, without resorting with such precipitancy to arms, its chances of success might have been greater, for its possibilities were large, whole states having made declarations against the general government.[3]
But previous to Diaz' open rupture with the government, his partisans had broken out into rebellion in several parts of the republic. A pronun-
- ↑ Art. 79th of the constitution says: "During a temporary vacancy of the presidential office, and during an absolute one till the newly elected shall present himself, the executive authority is to be exercised by the president of the supreme court of justice.' Méx., Ley. Fund, 369.
- ↑ Marquez de Leon, who must be well informed on the events of this period as well as on the motives of the men, says: While the capture of Saltillo by Treviño was being glorified, the press was engaged in discussing the 'abominable plan de la Noria,' by which Gen. Diaz, influenced by Lic. Justo Benitez, ignored the president of the supreme court. . . . The ill-advised plan was badly received; public opinion became lukewarm. The plan was a mere proclamation of the chief, subscribed by himself alone. In this he had 'desilusionado á la generalidad.' Mem. Póst., MS., 358-9; El Monitor, Jan. 3, 1872. Diaz thus explains the unexpected result: 'Meantime Juarez appointed Lic. Vallarta governor of the state of Jalisco, cajoled some others that he suspected to be compromitted, y la revolucion comenzó á debilitarse mas de lo que debia,' Datos, Biog., MS., 359-60.
- ↑ The party calling itself constitutionalist, born of the opposition to the electoral law of Aug. 14, 1867, lost its prestige, its moral force, with the rude attack made against the constitution by the Plan de la Noria. The revolution was defeated by public opinion rather than by force of arms. Baz, Vida de Juarez, 310.
